Golden Gaia News Roundup: January 7, 2015

I’m always grateful to find interesting yet practical articles to help others …in personal life and professional life. This first story offers tips on using funnels as a marketing strategy for your business …enjoy! “By breaking down the sales process into a series of steps, starting at the wide end of the funnel and working to the narrower end, salespeople can more effectively target their potential customers and see higher sales growth as a result… companies are dedicating their resources to building and preserving a highway system that can accommodate multiple inbound streams of web traffic and put them in the best position to eventually convert. Part of that conversion-optimization process depends on a funnel system that can ultimately produce the most qualified pool of potential leads.”

The most time-consuming work continues to remain at the mouth of the funnel, where you need to spend your efforts in gaining a presence on the Internet which may take a few months. Using major search engines, you can make a name for yourself through content marketing. The middle of the funnel is intended for greater discernment and filtering out those who are not a good fit. For example, if you’re looking for a surf board supplier who carries both long and short boards, then you’ll remove suppliers who only sell long boards.

“In order to be successful, the end of your funnel must be compelling. Even the most qualified leads won’t convert if they’re not interested in what you’re selling. That means you’ll need to step up your efforts in terms of design, copy, and value if you want your audience to have the highest propensity to convert.” Further, you can use your landing pages to qualify your leads on their own, sending them to the appropriate funnel ending.

In order to close the deal, you’ll have to make a valuable offer. “Most people won’t hand over their personal information voluntarily, so you can offer something worthwhile—such as a whitepaper or a research report—in exchange for that information. If you’re offering something more tangible, like a product, you can use testimonials or persuasive copy to increase the perceived value of the item you’re selling… By using automated funnels instead of a manual step-by-step sales procedure, you’ll save yourself the time and stress of the procedural formality, and your potential leads will practically sort themselves.”

Meditation has, for a very long time, been a challenging activity for me. I always found it difficult to focus my mind on my breathing, for example, as my mind rapidly ran through my checklist that evening preparing tomorrow’s day. As the old adage goes, “Practice makes perfect.” I’ll assure you, I’m far from perfect at many things, including quieting my mind during meditation. And yet, each time does get a little easier!

“The goals of meditation, in fact, overlap with many of the objectives of clinical psychology, psychiatry, preventive medicine, and education. As suggested by the growing compendium of research, meditation may be effective in treating depression and chronic pain and in cultivating a sense of overall well-being.” This study has amassed evidence showing how meditation affects brain functioning and its physical structure.

Wendy Hasenkamp and her colleagues, formerly at Emory University, used brain imaging to discover the neural pathways triggered by such focus-based meditation. They “identified four phases of a cognitive cycle: An episode of mind wandering, a moment of becoming aware of the distraction, a phase of reorienting attention, and a resumption of focused attention.” While most fascinating was the discussion of this story, the underlying result concluded that those who meditate have a greater capacity to remain vigilant at any given task.

“So, what’s the big deal?” you ask. Today at work, I was speaking to a client of mine who is trying to remain grounded and balanced while his world around him, at times, becomes chaotic –as it does for most of us. As his therapist, one goal is teaching him to be grounded and balanced. Let’s back up… do you know the difference between being grounded and being balanced? Feel free to write in so we can create an ongoing dialogue for those who are currently playing with this idea and are practicing in their own daily meditations. One major benefit is to remain as the “eye of the storm” while the world around you spins out of control, as life can from time to time. What do you do when life presents you with this scenario? Do you lose your footing and get sucked into the tornado?

The older I get, the more I want to accomplish. I also enjoy helping others, for example, by volunteering my time for a variety of services. I’m far from being an angel and am clearly no saint, but I do enjoy giving back when I can. Some people do not always have the luxury of giving their time, so they give their money –“congrats,” I say …give however you can (Donate here for Golden Age of Gaia’s Hope Chest). Others have neither time nor money to give. And that’s okay too. Yet, I encourage you to give something else: Your signature.

In today’s day and age, we the people our re-discovering our strength in numbers. While some are rallying, lobbying, and protesting on Wall Street, others can sit in the confines of our living room or office and email an electronic signature advocating for our favorite causes.

Reach out, do your part, engage in our world and create change by signing one, some, or all of the petitions at the links below. Please browse through this short list of from people across our world who could use your support. Visit Change.org or other online petition sites to find more options. Be the change you desire to see on our planet! For those you support … I thank you all in advance for your big heart and generosity.

Glossary

Reval Reporting

GAoG will not be answering financial questions after the RV. No one here has the expertise to do so. We will however highlight other blogs whose mission includes that and post general, philosophical discussions of financial wayshowing and stewardship.

The Divine Mother’s Mandate

Build what is divinely beautiful. I give you my divine authority to do so. I will guide you. I will help you. But I entrust this to you as well. …

We are helping you. That gateway is open and you are being flooded and you are being assisted and you will be assisted every step of the way.

Archangel Michael: Lead or Leave a Vacuum

The Disclosure of Our Star Family

Dr. Steven Greer on Disclosure

How the Secret Government Works (Four hours)
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Please Note

Neither am I qualified to be, nor do I wish to be considered, a spiritual teacher. I'm a researcher and writer, here simply to share my views and listen to yours as spiritual adults and equals. - Steve Beckow